Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex have wished Catherine, Princess of Wales "health and healing" following her cancer diagnosis

Now, William's brother and his wife Meghan - who stepped down from royal duties in 2020 to move to California and do not make regular contact with the family - have asked for "privacy and peace" for Catherine amid her treatment.

In a statement, they said: "We wish health and healing for Kate and the family, and hope they are able to do so privately and in peace."

Catherine announced her diagnosis during a televised address on Friday evening.

She said: "I wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you personally, for all the wonderful messages of support and for your understanding whilst I've been recovering from surgery. It has been an incredibly tough couple of months for our entire family. But I've had a fantastic medical team who've taken great care of me for which I'm so grateful.

"In January, I underwent major abdominal surgery in London. And at the time, it was thought that my condition was non-cancerous.

"The surgery was successful. However, tests after the operation on cancer had been present.

"This of course, came as a huge shock. And Wiliam and I have been doing everything we can to process and manage this privately for the sake of our young family.

"As you can imagine, this has taken time, it has taken me time to recover for major surgery in order to start my treatment.

The Palace has said that they will not be announcing what kind of cancer the princess is suffering from and both King Charles - who is also currently receiving treatment for an undisclosed form of cancer - and Queen Camilla have been informed.

Following the announcement, the monarch said he was incredibly "proud" of his daughter-in-law for speaking out whilst Prime Minister Rishi Sunak also wished her a "full and speedy" recovery.